Gifts: Lupus
The Lupus Gifts Many spirits bestow breed Gifts, usually to honor ancient pacts or as rewards for past deeds. For example, tales speak of how an ancient metis helped a mole to hide from predators; in return, the mole taught the metis how to burrow into the earth to hide from his own enemies, and mole-spirits have continued to pass down the trick to metis ever since. Lupus Gifts reflect the breed's powerful ties to the natural world and the wilds. Usually these Gifts enhance the natural abilities of the werewolf, allowing her to perform feats that other breeds would find impossible. Rank 1 Hare’s Leap The werewolf can leap impossible distances. Hare-spirits teach this Gift, naturally, though cat-, frog-, kangaroo-, and even flea-spirits occasionally do so as well. System: The player makes a reflexive Strength + Athletics roll (difficulty 7) to activate this Gift. If successful, the character's leaping distances are doubled for the scene -- or tripled for a single turn with the expenditure of a Willpower point. Heightened Senses This Gift sharpens the werewolf's senses to an incredible degree. She enjoys the olfactory and auditory acuity of a wolf whenever she is in Homid and Glabro forms, along with superior night vision. In Crinos, Hispo and Lupus, her senses become preternaturally potent, allowing sensory feats that border on precognition. Sudden loud noises, bright lights or overwhelming scents can be disorienting, however. Wolf-spirits teach this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point to activate this Gift for a scene. In Homid and Glabro, the werewolf's Perception difficulties decrease by two and she may roll Perception + Primal-Urge to perform uncanny sensory feats such as tracking by scent. In Crinos, Hispo, and Lupus, Perception difficulties decrease by three (this is not cumulative with the ordinary Lupus-form Perception bonuses) and the werewolf gains an extra die to Primal-Urge dice pools. Predator’s Arsenal One of the most unnerving aspects of the Homid shape is its lack of proper weapons. This Gift remedies that problem (while still retaining much of the Homid shape's ability to blend in with the human world), granting the Garou battle-ready claws and teeth in Homid form. It is taught by a wolf-spirit. System: The werewolf concentrates for a turn to gain access to bite and claw attacks in Homid form for the rest of the scene, or until she dismisses the transformation. These attacks inflict lethal rather than aggravated damage, and may be concealed by simple expediencies such as the werewolf keeping her mouth closed, wearing long sleeves, or keeping her hands in her pockets. She can even speak normally without giving herself away, as long as she's careful not to open her mouth too wide or smile so that her teeth show, although her voice sounds rough and a bit distorted (attempting to discern that there's something amiss with a Garou taking such precautions requires a Perception + Alertness roll, difficulty 9). Prey Mind As Gaia dies and her natural order is perverted, predators become prey with increasing frequency -- this is a sorrowful truth that lupus know all too well. This Gift assists the Garou in evading their enemies that they might fight another day, showing them places to hide, ways to run, and even chances to strike back. A hare- or deer-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Wits + Primal-Urge; difficulty 7 in the wilderness, 9 in urban environments. Each success adds one die to all pools made to escape, outdistance, hide from or evade pursuit for the remainder of the scene. Sense Prey This Gift lets a werewolf locate enough prey to feed her pack. In the urban environment, this tends to guide lupus to prey in parks, sewers, animal shelters or even zoos, drawing her unfailingly to the presence of prey animals. Humans and carnivores too large or dangerous for a lone wolf to regard as prey do not register as prey animals. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player rolls Perception + Primal-Urge. The difficulty is 5 in wilderness environments and 7 in urban environments. Success indicates the location of enough prey to feed a large pack for a day. Rank 2 Axis Mundi The lupus reaches out with her spirit to feel the presence of Gaia, centering herself with relation to her Mother. She always knows what direction she is traveling or facing in, so long as she travels within the Gaia Realm. The spirits of migratory birds teach this Gift. System: This Gift's effects are permanent. Eye of the Eagle This Gift allows the werewolf to see over impossibly long distances, though not through obstacles -- good vantage points are invaluable, and this Gift is in much demand among caern guardians. It is taught by an eagle-spirit. System: The player rolls Perception + Alertness (difficulty 7). The number of successes is the number of miles added to the Garou's clear visual range. Go for the Jugular ( Changing Ways ) Wolves have an uncanny ability to spot vulnerability. The lupus follows suit, striking her teeth into the softest and most unprotected part of her foe that she can find. A wolf or coyote spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Rage point when the werewolf makes a successful bite attack. Increase the difficulty to soak the damage by +3. Name the Spirit The werewolf gains an instinctive rapport with denizens of the Umbra. He can sense the type and approximate Trait levels (Rage, Gnosis, Willpower) of spirits. Owl- and raven-spirits teach this Gift. System: The player spends one Willpower and rolls Perception + Occult (difficulty 8). Scent of Sight The werewolf can compensate for her vision completely by using her sense of smell. She can attack invisible creatures normally or navigate in absolute darkness. Wolf-spirits teach this Gift. System: The werewolf fully substitutes her sense of smell for her vision, enabling her to distinguish identity and location flawlessly (color and fine details, such as letters printed on a page, remain beyond her). A Perception + Primal-Urge roll may be required to detect things which actively obscure their scent. Trapper’s Bane Dingoes throughout Australia, but especially near the dingo fence, face a constant threat from human traps -- snares, steel traps, and poison. The dingoes have become adept at detecting these dangers and even disarming them. This Gift allows the werewolf to identify lures, traps, and even ambushes. Dingo spirits teach this Gift. System: The Storyteller rolls Perception + Primal Urge when the werewolf comes within (Gnosis x 5) yards of a trap's trigger. The difficulty is 5 for the werewolf to detect simple snares, pits, and poisoned bait in the area. Identifying more technologically complex traps such as electrified objects and motion-activated traps is difficulty 6. Supernatural traps are difficulty 7. Additionally, whenever the werewolf approaches an ambush, the Storyteller rolls Perception + Primal Urge against difficulty 6 for the werewolf to recognize the ambush before it springs. The werewolf does not have to activate this Gift, it provides a "sixth sense" at all times. Rank 3 Catfeet The werewolf gains the agility of a cat, making him immune to falls under 100 feet (~30 m). He also has perfect balance even on the most slippery surfaces, and the difficulties of all combat actions involving body slams and grappling decrease by two. Cat-spirits teach this gift. System: This ability becomes innate to those who learn the Gift. Monkey Tail The lupus may lengthen her tail and use it as a prehensile appendage at will. Although it's no replacement for a hand, it can grasp objects, wrap around branches, and even allow the Garou to hang upside-down. A monkey-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The Garou may employ her prehensile tail at will in any form which possesses a tail. Successfully manipulating the tail requires a Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty varies according to the task). Sense the Unnatural The werewolf can sense any supernatural presence and determine its approximate strength and type. Supernatural presences can include magic, spirits, Wyrm taint, ghosts, vampires, faeries, and any other such unnatural manifestation -- although it won't pick them out specifically as such. A werewolf may sense a person plagued by haunting as easily as a ghost. Any spirit servant of Gaia can teach this Gift. System: The player rolls Perception + Enigmas (difficulty 6). The more successes he rolls, the more information he gains. The sensory input is somewhat vague and subject to interpretation, though. For instance, a vampire might smell of clotted blood, fear, corpse-meat or whatever else the Storyteller finds appropriate. Shattering Howl ( Changing Ways ) Unleashing a deafening howl that resonates powerfully, the lupus smashes the paltry fruits of mankind’s labor. Storm and wind spirits teach this Gift. System: The werewolf spends a turn howling, and then the player spends a Rage point and rolls Charisma+Primal-Urge (difficulty 7). The resultant ear-piercing sound shatters all glass and anything brittle or fragile within a radius of (20 x successes) yards. It also knocks over anything precariously stacked or top-heavy, and shoddily-made things fall apart. Silence the Weaver Silence The Weaver (Level Three) -- The lupus releases a shattering howl, destroying all nearby delicate electronics -- computers, laptops, smart phones, tablets and the like. Simpler machines such as land line phones, cars, and firearms are unaffected. A storm-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The lupus spends a turn howling. The player then spends one Rage point and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge. Delicate electronics are destroyed within a radius of (20 x successes) yards (or meters) in a flash of sparks. Strength of Gaia The Goddess blesses the lupus with the fullness of his might when he wears the most natural of his skins. While wearing lupus form, the Garou enjoys the full might of Crinos. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends one Rage point. His Lupus form base strength increases by four, rather than the normal one, for the rest of the scene. Rank 4 Beast Life The werewolf can communicate with other wild animals and attract or even command them. Domesticated animals may speak with the Garou, but they have given themselves over to the ways of humans and will provide no aid beyond information. Any animal spirit can teach this Gift, although lupus prefer to learn it from lion- or wolf-spirits. System: The character gains the permanent ability to communicate with all animals, regardless of the form she wears. To attract animals, the player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Charisma + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). All animals within 10 miles (16 km) per success respond to the summons, and will follow any requests the Garou makes. It is considered customary to pay homage to the spirit of any animal ordered to sacrifice itself with this Gift; to do otherwise risks angering the spirit world. Gnaw The werewolf's jaws strengthen until she can chew through nearly anything. Her fangs inflict more damage in combat, and only death will break her grip if she clamps her teeth into an opponent. Hyena- and wolf-spirits teach this Gift. System: The player spends one Willpower point and rolls Stamina + 4 against a variable difficulty (3 for wood, 6 for steel handcuffs, 9 for a train car coupling). The length of time it takes to gnaw through something depends on the number of successes. Additionally, the Gift grants a character's bite two extra dice of damage for the rest of the scene. Hibernation ( Changing Ways ) As the time of the Apocalypse draws near, some Garou turn their thoughts to preserving their greatest heroes for the final battle. This Gift is rare, for only Bear himself or one of his avatars can teach it, and he’s reluctant to share his secret. The few werewolves that have impressed him enough to learn it can assume a dormancy that not only staves off the needs of the body, but stops the lupus from aging. Normally, the latter never comes into play, but in desperate times the Garou do what they must. System: The werewolf must find a quiet, dark spot to sleep and remain undisturbed for at least eight hours while her body enters a state of of metabolic suppression. The player rolls Stamina+Survival (difficulty 7) and spends at least one point of both Gnosis and Willpower, which don’t recovr during hibernation. A botch on this roll sends the Garou into immediate frenzy, as her body rejects the process. After the first eight hours have passed, the lupus sinks into a state of sleep. She needs no food or water, all bodily functions cease, and she doesn’t age. This hibernation lasts one week per success on the roll, though each pair of Gnosis and Willpower points spent in excess of the first increases this interval from weeks to months, years, or even decades. No more than three Gnosis and Willpower can be spent to increase the interval, although Galliard tales abound of ancient Garou sleeping under mountains or in the frozen north, waiting for the call to rouse and take up arms against the Wyrm again. The werewolf can be woken prematurely if she takes enough damage to become Wounded or worse, if her player succeeds at a Willpower roll (difficulty 8), or if the rite Call to Arms is performed. She can attempt a Willpower roll to wake once per day. As soon as she wakes, whether prematurely or after the full hibernation period has passed, she must roll Rage at -1 difficulty to see if she frenzies, or -2 difficulty if her injuries woke her. Scream of Gaia The Garou emits a horrible, ragged scream imbued with Rage and the pain of Gaia. The force of the scream batters foes and knocks them off their feet. Storm-spirits teach this Gift. System: The player spends a Gnosis point and rolls Rage. Everyone within a 50-foot (15 m) radius, except for the werewolf's pack, is blasted to the ground to suffer one unsoakable health level of bashing damage per success as a shockwave rips through the area. Terror of the Dire Wolf Wolves haunt the ancestral nightmares of humanity, and of those monsters that were once human. The werewolf lets out a fierce snarl that triggers primordial terror in opponents and drowns them in the Delirium. A wolf-spirit teaches this Gift. System: The player spends a point of Rage and rolls Manipulation + Primal-Urge (difficulty of the opponent's Willpower or, if he is affecting a group, the highest Willpower represented). If successful, the werewolf invokes the full effect of the Delirium on any human, formerly-human, or partly-human creature who can see her -- including those normally immune to the Delirium, such as mages and vampires. Only other werewolves and Fera are immune. It may be used in any form, although Homid and Glabro raise the difficulty of the Primal-Urge roll by one. Rank 5 Elemental Gift Gaia herself steps in to lend a hand, offering part of herself to the character. The werewolf gains the power to command his surroundings, directing the elemental forces of the world. Elementals teach this Gift. System: The player spends one Gnosis point and rolls Gnosis (difficulty 8). If successful, the Garou calls an elemental, who then grants her the ability to control a large volume of air, earth, fire, or water -- approximately 20' by 20' (6 m x 6 m) per success. The effect lasts for one scene, or until the elemental leaves or is destroyed. Elementals summoned by this Gift are roughly as powerful as a Nexus Crawler. Song of the Great Beast The Garou travels to the deep wilderness and lets out a long, mournful howl. One of the Great Beasts of antiquity answers the call, appearing in the Realm near the werewolf -- a mighty and savage being that walked the Earth in ages past. Such creatures include the Willawau (giant owl), the Sabertooth Tiger, the great Megalodon sharks that swam the seas eons ago and the mighty Mammoth, who arrives in herds. Who knows what else the Song might call up? The Great Beasts possess power in the physical world to rival that of mighty spirits in the Umbra. Once the ancient creature arrives, the Garou may make a request of it, but the Great Beast will fulfill it in its own way, according to its nature. Using this Gift is risky, but the results can be truly spectacular. Few spirits know this Gift. It's said that the reclusive Mokolé know which spirits can teach the Song of the Great Beast … if any survived the Impergium, and are willing to talk to the Garou, that is. System: The player spends two Gnosis points and rolls Charisma + Primal-Urge (difficulty 8). More successes improve the Great Beast's disposition. Traits are left to the Storyteller's discretion, but should always be impressive.